A Warrior's Romance
by Zendius'n'Zora
Summary: Luccii is a young mercenary trying to make a name for herself and escape her past. Torian is a Mandalorian warrior trying to find his place in the galaxy. Their lives are intertwined forever when they meet on Taris. A unique perspective on the Torian/Hunter romance with a heavy emphasis on Mandalorian principals. Rated M for adult language, gore, and lemons. I don't own SWTOR
1. Chapter 1

Note: This story is set after bounty hunter main story and hutt cartel ends, but before shadow of revan and kotfe. Sort of paused in companion storyline right before bounty hunter and torian marry. I also removed those fade-to-black scenes in their companion storyline for story purposes (basically bounty hunter and torian have not slept together yet).

* * *

 **Chapter One: Memories**

The sound of clanging metal filled the air as a metal smith worked with _beskar_ , a metal so rare only a handful of beings in the universe knew how to forge it into armor and blades. Each piece was a work of art, crafted in the ancient ways of the _mando'ade_ , and only _mando'ade_ could use _beskar_. It was only theirs, as it was the _mando'ad_ e who had first discovered what was now known as mandolorian iron. Mandalorian iron was infused with other alloys and tempered by only expert hands in a process that was never written down. The secret art of working with _beskar_ was passed down generation to generation by word of mouth only, and only a select few ever knew of its secrets.

Torian Cadera was one of the few who knew how to properly forge and work with _beskar_ , though it was his own secret. Nobody, not even Mandalore, knew that he was aware of the ancient process. Only his long dead mentor had known, as he was the one who had taught him in secret. Even now, Torian worked in secret, retreating deep into the mountains to a secret forge. His excuse was a 'hunting trip.' It was a good excuse, seeing as he took hunting trips often. And he had in fact killed some worthy prey on his way to the forge. But his true purpose in coming all the way out here was the finished breastplate he now held in his hands.

It was marvelous. The polished metal glistened in the dimming sunlight. Each angle in the armor, each bend and curve, was intentional and perfect. Torian smiled to himself at his handiwork and reached for the nearby paint bucket. The finishing touch, the mark of his clan on one shoulder and the mark of the mandalorians on the other, painted by expert hands and then covered in sealing resin... he set the armor aside to let the paint and resin dry. No sword, no bullet, no laser, no explosion, no light saber... nothing would destroy that armor. Scratch, perhaps, but nothing would ever penetrate it or come even remotely close to harming the wearer. It was the perfect gift for his _cyar'ika_. His love.

Torian smiled as he thought about his love. The little woman that had stolen his heart without even trying. He remembered the day he first laid eyes on her. She'd been a nobody then, just a rookie outsider that was trying to make it into the Great Hunt, a Mandalorian war game with great riches and fame as the prize. Nobody knew who she was, nor did they care. She was just some rookie from Hutta with impossible dreams of wealth and fame. And yet Torian couldn't take his eyes off of her.

She was beautiful. She looked human, but he could tell she was not quite human. Her eyes were the brightest blue he'd ever seen and her hair was pure white, held up in a messy bun and out of her heart-shaped face. She had a cute tiny nose and luscious pink lips, and she wore what looked to be tribal makeup, as strange markings were on her cheeks. He could see that her ears were pointed, almost like a cathar's, but other than that she looked purely human. Under her bulky armor he could see the hint of curves she had, though it was hard to see through all that armor. He did, however, notice that her legs went on for miles.

At that time he'd been kept occupied by the hunt his adoptive clan was partaking in. He didn't have time to wonder or worry about her, she was merely a very beautiful woman he would likely never see again. Yet he found himself keeping tabs on her, listening intently when his fellow warriors spoke about the ongoing Great Hunt, and how this rookie female from Hutta was quickly advancing in the ranks. He finally saw her again when she returned to Dromund Kaas, victorious. He was there at the celebration held in her honor, but he lost sight of her quickly in all the festivities. And then, perhaps a month later, she was before his eyes again at the camp he was at, sent on a mission from Mandalore himself. He managed to be able to speak to her, if only briefly, and she had looked him up and down, and obviously liked what he saw. It took all of his control not to act too friendly towards her in front of the other warriors, but if he wasn't hooked before, her sexy smile and wink in his direction sure had him hooked now.

Torian had a hard time staying away from her. He really did. She was an outsider, a nobody. _Aruteii_. And he, himself, was already too close to being considered the same. He really needed to stay on the mandalorians' good side, or risk being exiled from the only family he'd ever known. Curse his traitor of a father for leaving him to this fate! Were he not so concerned over being exiled, Torian would have made his move much sooner, and therefor would have won his _cyar'ika_ 's heart much sooner. But things worked out in the end, at least.

He'd never expected her to help him on Taris. She'd shown up out of nowhere, and he'd nearly killed her. He still cursed himself for that. She had waltzed right into his hideout while he was sleeping, her helmet on and her blaster drawn. His security console had woken him and, in his drowsy state, he hadn't thought too clearly. He ambushed her and was just a second away from shooting her when she spoke. The sound of her voice made him freeze. He didn't even hear what she said as she removed her helmet and turned around to face him with a cocky smile. The next thing he knew he was on the ground, the woman of his affection straddling his lap and his gun sliding across the floor, out of his reach. She just smiled at him coyly, and he knew she was amused at how easily she had distracted him. He was just grateful for the armor in his pants keeping her from knowing just how much she affected him.

He was thankful for Taris. It gave him a chance to actually get to know her. He'd been drawn in by her looks, but he fell hard for her character. She was fearless in battle, kept a calm and cool head like any seasoned warrior. She spoke with authority and acted with honor, not simply to make a few credits. She thought over every decision carefully, planned her future battles like an expert, and never backed down from a worthy challenge. In other words she acted exactly like a proper mandalorian woman should, and was every sane mandalorian's dream woman.

Torian fell for her. Hard. She was exceptionally helpful at tracking down his traitor of a father, though when it came to crunch time he easily pushed aside his blooming feelings for her in order to face his father properly. That day will forever be engraved in his memory. The fight, the words spoken, the sound of blaster fire as he shot his father between the eyes. The look in his father's eyes as the light left them forever... He will never forget that day, nor the way she stood beside him, ready to comfort him if he needed or walk away if he desired. He chose the latter, asking her to leave and give him some time alone to come to terms with everything.

When he next saw her it had been in her docking bay as she was leaving Taris for good. He had a long day, but he wasn't about to let this chance to be with her slip out of his hands. He could feel it in his bones, this woman was meant for him, and he'd be damned if he let her slip away. So he confronted her, asked to tag along on her many adventures. And she'd accepted with a wide smile. She had apparently wanted him to come along from the start.

Going with her had been the best decision of his life.

Torian sighed to himself and smiled at the dried breastplate. He couldn't wait to see it on his beloved. And he knew she would love it. She'd been looking for some _beskar_ armor, anyways, but she would be absolutely delighted to receive this set, which bore the Mandalorian crest as well as the Cadera crest. It would tell all who saw it that she was his, and he knew she would like that part of it even more.

Putting the finishing touches on the breastplate, Torian gathered up his belongings and set out on his journey back to the ship. His _cyar'ika_ was waiting for him.

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Hello all! It's me, Zora! **And me, Zendius**. But this is my (Zora's) personal story. This is a story I've been working on for a while, so I hope you guys like it. This chapter was more of an intro to Torian and an overview on their relationship and events that happened in the game, but we will be seeing the bounty hunter's point of view soon enough.

As an additional note, all words in Mandalorian will be italicized and, if the definition isn't provided in the context, I will list it here in the ending notes. Like such:

Aruteii: outsider, traitor, or anyone not mandalorian.

Beskar: mandalorian iron fused with other alloys to produce a powerful, heavy metal used mostly for armor.

Cyar'ika: beloved, darling, sweetheart.

Mando'ade: the mandalorian people.

I hope you guys enjoy! Check out our profile, it's been updated with a list of all our characters and where to find them in SWTOR. Also, check out Zendius's story "Rise to Power" if you haven't read it yet!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

I apologize that this chapter is not as detailed as the last one, but that chapter was an introduction. From here on out it's probably gonna be like this. Sorry!

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 **Chapter 2: Nostalgia**

Luccii shook her head as she cleaned her blasters, purposefully ignoring Gault's shenanigans as he hustled about the ship, planning his next big heist. Skadge was grumbling to himself about annoying jawas and devaronians. Meanwhile Blizz was tinkering with something rather combustible down in the cargo hold, and the ship rocked with a small explosion here and there. Leave it to her to find friends among a con artist, a criminal grunt, and a pyromaniac jawa.

"Hey." Luccii looked up when a familiar baritone filled her ears. She smiled at Torian as he took a seat beside her and began to clean his vibrosword. "Pretty loud today." His sentences were always short and straight to the point. It was an oddly charming trait he had, one she would never want to change. In their short time together, Luccii had come to love this man and everything about him. She couldn't believe Taris had only been seven months ago. Nor could she believe that in that short time they had both come to have feelings for each other.

They had connected almost immediately. She still remembered meeting him for the first time on Dromund Kaas. Back then she'd just been declared the Champion of the Great Hunt, and was sent on a personal mission from Mandalore himself. When she made it to the mando hunting camp, she'd been greeted by a full squad of mandalorians. The first one to talk to her had been rather rude, and it had taken all of her willpower not to knock his teeth in. She was just a hair's breadth away from doing so when Torian came before her, interrupting them. She hadn't even heard what he said to her, she was too busy trying not to blush. He was incredibly attractive. Tall and lean compared to the other men, he was the only one with ceremonial-looking scars on his cheeks. He was also the only blonde, she noticed. His face was hard and handsome, but it was those piercing blue eyes that captivated her. She felt her heart skip a beat as he smiled at her.

It took Gault's words to snap her out of it. He gave her a knowing glance when she turned to him, but she was glad he said nothing about it, especially in front of everyone else and... him. She didn't even know his name yet. And then, as if on cue, the first mando she spoke to called him by name. Torian. The word sent a chill down her spine. Once again, Gault unintentionally snapped her out of it before it became obvious that she was staring. No, staring wasn't the right word. She was practically drooling over Torian. She was thankful when the conversation ended and she went off into the cave with Gault.

She hadn't seen him after Dromund Kaas for over a month. At that point in time she'd figured she would likely never see him again. And then Taris happened. She learned she was after a mandalorian traitor named Jincoln Cadera. Later she also learned that his son, Torian Cadera, was also hunting him. When she'd heard the name Torian she froze. Could it possibly be the same Torian from Dromnd Kaas? She tried not to get her hopes up, but she failed. She was really hoping it was the same Torian.

It was hard to hide her eagerness to find him from Mako, who had heard about her encounter with Torian from Gault. The younger girl teased her constantly about it as they tracked him down. When they finally came to Torian's base, Mako stayed outside to prevent anyone from sneaking up on them. Luccii entered the base alone, keeping her weapon drawn just in case.

She hadn't heard him come up behind her. She only knew he was there when she felt the barrel of a blaster against the back of her head. He was deadly silent, and that was almost her downfall. And then he spoke, his tone dark and serious unlike the friendly and helpful voice she'd heard on Dromund Kaas. She forced herself not to shiver at the lethal tone in his voice. He was going to kill her if she didn't tell him who she was. Right now. So she spoke.

"I've been wanting to see you since Dromund Kass." she put as much flirtation as she could into her voice as she turned around to face him. He was caught off guard by the flirty tone, and she used this chance to send him to the ground and disarm him. She was glad her mask hid her blushing face as she realized the situation she'd unintentionally put them in. She was straddling his groin rather nicely. She was glad there was armor in his pants. She wasn't sure which would be more embarrassing, to feel him harden at this position or to not feel any effect at all. But the look on his face told her she would have felt something.

Once her blush was under control she flipped up her mask, letting him see who she was. He was still seemingly dazed for a moment, and she couldn't help but smile at that. So he was affected by her as much as she was by him. Her smile faded slightly as he came to his senses and narrowed his eyes at her. He recognized her, she knew, but she didn't expect him to suddenly turn the situation around. The next thing she was aware of was being flipped over and pinned beneath a large masculine body. Unlike how she'd held him down, she was completely pinned and unable to move. Fear briefly flashed through her before she saw the look in his eyes. He was amused now. He'd been brought to the ground by a woman, something that had never happened to him, but he'd redeemed himself by turning it around on her. Luccii nearly rolled her eyes. Stupid men and their egos.

He had helped her up after that, and they had teamed up to track down his father. She still remembered Taris fondly because of those weeks she spent with him, hunting prey together, learning about each other, bonding. It had taken almost a month to corner Jincoln. And then they finally trapped him. He was wounded and fleeing... and backed into a corner. He had no choice but to fight them directly. That fight had been one of the toughest fights of her life. If it weren't for Torian, she might've been seriously injured or worse. Torian took most of the damage, constantly peeling his father off of her when Jincoln targeted her. Jincoln managed to jump between his two attackers with ease, but they were wearing him down. Finally, after a long battle, Torian landed a solid punch to his father's face, knocking him down. When he regained his senses, Luccii had both her blasters in his face.

Luccii had hesitated, glancing at Torian. This was his only way to regain his honor in the clans. But killing his own father... She didn't know what to do. So she told Torian it was his call. As soon as she said Torian's name, Jincoln had looked at the younger man in shock. He'd then insisted that he speak to his son. But Torian didn't want to talk. Luccii stepped back and was a silent observer as Torian placed his gun in between his father's eyes. They said some words in mando'a that she didn't know. And then Torian killed his father. He'd asked to be alone after that, so she gave him space. She knew this must have been hard on him. So she gathered up Jincoln's body and left to collect her bounty on him.

She hadn't expected Torian to be waiting in her airlock, but she'd been pleasantly surprised by it. And there had been no hiding her happy smile when he asked to come along with her and her crew. Things had been... terrific since then. Torian was a wonderful ally, and a great man. It hadn't taken long for him to make his intentions clear to her. He wanted to court her, and he'd asked her in the way of her people, in the middle of a fight against a worth opponent. She still remembered that battle. They'd been trying to get to Reneget Vause, a trandoshian pirate lord they had been hired to kill or capture. In their pursuit they came across his blood brother, Kren. Torian and her teamed up to take him down, and in the middle of all the fighting Torian had been talking to her through their helmet's headsets. As she landed a particularly hard blow to Kren, Torian asked her to court him.

"I want to court you, Luccii." he said, pulling her out of the way of blaster fire. "Will you?"

"Court you?" Luccii had asked as she dodged Kren's fist. She glanced at her mandalorian companion in time to see him nod curtly. Her mask hid her bright smile. "Thought you'd never ask. Of course." From that point on they were courting. Luccii still blushed at the memory of the kiss he gave her after she defeated Vause. It had been a rather Torian-like kiss, all business but with a hidden promise of more to come. It hadn't been much longer after that when he told her he loved her, and she responded in kind. Since then, things had only been looking up for them...

"Lively." Luccii nodded as she brought herself out of her memories. She gave him a smile as she looked him over. He had something on his mind, she knew. Others wouldn't be able to notice it, but she saw it in the way his jaw was set and the look in his eyes as he glanced at her. He wanted to talk to her. Alone. She glanced up at the cockpit where Mako sat at the controls. "We should be coming up on Tatooine soon. Want to accompany me to a cantina for a break after this bounty?" she asked her Mandalorian man.

"Won't say no to a drink." Torian gave her a smirk. She smiled back at him, locking eyes with the mandalorian. She loved how they could have entire conversations with just their eyes and a handful of words.

"C'mon guys I know you're a thing down but take it down a notch. We don't wanna see you guys going at it like this all the time." Gault said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he winked at the couple. Luccii threw her cleaning rag at him.

"Get back to screwing people out of their money." Luccii rolled her eyes at the devaronian. They all braced themselves as the ship came out of hyperspace, Tatooine now visible through the cockpit's windows. Luccii smiled and stood as her crew gathered around the holoterminal, sensing that fun time was over and business time was beginning.

"Alright, guys, let's focus on our next bounty."

* * *

"Torian, where are we going?" Luccii sighed as he halfway dragged her through the sands of Tatooine. She hated this planet with a passion. She was not made for deserts, and the heavy metal armor she wore was not helping this heat at all. She wanted so badly to take off her helmet and breathe in some cooler air, but she dared not. Her fair skin would surely burn quickly in all this sun.

"Secret." was all Torian said as he pulled her along. They made for an odd sight. Two mandalorians fully decked out in armor, holding hands as one practically dragged his companion along. Luccii was glad that here in the middle of all this sand there was nobody around to witness the incredulous sight. "C'mon Luc, thought you were a mando." his voice teased her ears, a little static muffling his voice through her headset.

"I'm an Echani first, and Echani are not made for heat." she retorted, reminding him that her race was very fair skinned and sensitive to heat.

"Then why'd you take a bounty on Tatooine?" he laughed at his love.

"It's good money." was all she said before returning to silence. They suddenly came up over a tall sand dune, and Luccii couldn't believe her eyes! Surely she was going crazy...

"You're not crazy. It's there." Torian chuckled, pulling her down the dune with him. Before their very eyes was a very large rocky overhang that cast shade beneath it, providing the perfect place for a small lake of fresh water to be without evaporating in the heat. Luccii walked with him in earnest now, hurrying towards the shade and the water. She couldn't believe this place existed! It was simply amazing! "You'll be one of the few people to say you went swimming on Tatooine." Torian's voice filled her ears again and she looked at him. Through their helmets she couldn't see his expression, but the way he was standing told her all she needed to know. He brought her here to make her happy. She was touched.

"Swim with me, Torian?" she asked, pulling on his hand as she walked towards the water. She could almost see his smile as he spoke.

"After you, _c'yare_."

They made quick work of their armor, setting it aside in the sand. Luccii kept her skin-tight bodysuit on, and she couldn't fight back the blush when she saw Torian take the top portion of his underclothes off, revealing his bare chest to her eyes for the first time. She tried not to stare or make it obvious that she was quickly becoming infatuated with his muscular chest and the hint of abs he was presenting her eyes with. But when he flexed for her she realized there was no hiding anything from Torian. He always knew exactly what she was thinking.

She hurried off into the water, trying to hide how flustered he'd made her. She was amazed at how cool the water felt against her skin. Compared to the heat of the rest of the planet, this was pure bliss. She blushed and let out a squeak as Torian suddenly scooped her up and tossed her into the water. When she surfaced she leveled a glare at him, which he merely grinned at. His smile almost made her glare disappear. She loved seeing him like this, so carefree and happy. She was used to seeing him as a perfect soldier who never showed much emotion. But now, now he was smiling and laughing and teasing and playing... he was acting like a normal man would. And she loved it. She loved him.

Torian looked at her now as if he'd read her thoughts, and the look in his eyes told her all she needed to know. His eyes held a heated promise. She shivered. He'd been giving her that look more and more often lately. He'd respected her wishes by taking things slow with her physically, but there was a limit and she knew he was getting close to it...

* * *

hehe I left you guys with a little bit of a sexy cliff hanger. Sorry there wasn't a whole lot of new information in this chapter. The ending was a bit light-hearted simply because all those memories of Taris were a bit intense.

Luccii is an Echani, by the way. They are a near-human race on the planet Eshan. They have pale skin and white or silver hair, and usually have silver eyes. Luccii has blue eyes. This is intentional and you will see why later. Echani are a war-faring race that believe you never truly know someone until you've fought them. They are big into fighting and big into reading body language and emotions through fighting. Fighting, in their culture, was not only for self defense, but also a form of communication and self expression.

I feel like Luccii's race plays a big part in why she is so attracted to Torian and vice versa, but that's just my opinion.

Anyways, thanks for reading and tell me what you think!

-Zora


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Battles**

" _Kandosii_." Torian grunted as he was unable to dodge a well-placed punch from his _cyar'ik_ a. He spun around and landed a kick on her shoulder, knocking her across the room. She was on her feet a second later and sprinting towards him, a wild predatory grin on her face. She was enjoying their spar as much as, and possibly more than he was. Made sense, her people thrived off combat much like the Mandalorians. Though her people focused on hand to hand combat with maybe just a vibroblade, whereas mandalorians would rather go all in and fight with everything they had at their disposal. Even now Torian found it hard to avoid reaching for his vibroblade, or any sort of weapon he could find. It was bad enough he felt nearly naked without his armor on. They were in loose fighting clothes at Luccii's suggestion, and who was he to turn down an offer to spar with his intended in the way of her people?

Luccii was smiling and laughing despite the pain Torian was inflicting upon her person. He wasn't holding back, and she was glad for it. She knew he wasn't used to unarmed combat, but she also knew he was well trained in all forms of combat, so their little sparring session wasn't throwing him off too much. If anything he was learning. She looked him over as they fought. He looked good in traditional fighting garb. Loose baggy pants and a vest that showed off his muscular chest... Luccii found it was a rather distracting sight. Though it helped that he was clearly distracted by her clothes as well. She wore something almost identical to his, but her shirt with a split in the middle was tighter so as to keep her breasts from flopping all over the place. Still she was giving him a nice view of some cleavage, and she'd caught him distracted by it more than once.

"Lulu, I need to talk to you about that poor sap from earlier and-" Gault walked into the cargo hold where they were fighting and he was cut off when Luccii grabbed him and threw the unsuspecting devaronian over her shoulder. She was so deep into fighting mode that she'd thought Gault was an attacker. Hearing him crash to the ground with a loud 'oomph' made her snap out of it. "Damn. I know I'm not the nicest person but I didn't do anything to deserve that." Gault groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head.

"Don't sneak up on a fighting Echani." Luccii leveled a glare at him. She jumped in surprise as arms came around her waist. She tried to throw whoever it was off of her but the masculine form kept her pinned with ease.

"Unless you're stronger than her." Torian's voice came in her ear. She felt his breath on her neck and it sent a chill down her spine.

"Whatever. I'm gonna go see if Mako can patch me up." Gault groaned, still holding his head. "You two lover birds have fun beating the shit out of each other. I'll never understand you war-faring creatures." he grumbled as he marched upstairs. Luccii moved to get out of Torian's arms and resume their spar, but he held her still against his chest. She growled and tried harder, pushing against him with all her might. The sound of his laughter reached her ears and she fumed.

"This is what eighty kilos of _beskar_ will do to you." his mouth was against her ear as she struggled against his impossible strength. Her eyes went wide at that number and she turned her head to stare at him incredulously.

"Seriously?" she questioned him. He just gave her a smirk. "What kind of beast are you?"

"Not a beast. A mando." he chuckled, holding her closer. He was enjoying having her close to him without all their armor in the way. He loved the way her body fit so perfectly against his.

"Torian, for real. Let me go. I have to get ready for this next bounty." Luccii was lying. This bounty wasn't a big rush. But she was starting to get flustered being so close to him like this.

" _Tion'ad hukaat'kama?_ " His question came as he released her. Who was watching her back? Who was she taking with her to go after the bounty? Who was he going to have to threaten to make sure his naive _cyar'ika_ stayed safe?

"Hopefully you are. Always." Luccii responded with a light blush. "Mako is going to resupply the ship while we're gone. The others have some smaller bounties of their own I've set up for them. Petty thieves and what-not." Torian grinned at her. Of course they did. She would do anything to be alone with him on a mission. She always gave the rest of the crew their own tasks so as to be able to hog Torian to herself. It was cute, really, how she went out of her way to have alone time with him, even if they were on the job during said alone time. He grinned at her and pulled her back to him, giving her a light affectionate headbutt and making her blush.

" _Darasuum_."

* * *

"Fuuuuuck..." Luccii growled as she was thrown through the air by a powerful blast. This damn nikto crimelord was knocking her around like a rag doll. He was massive, at least twice her size, and had the strength to match. She'd taken on big brutes like this before, and it was always the same thing; they were powerful but slow and she was always able to dance around them and wear them down. But not this brute. He was fast, impossibly fast, and combined with his strength, she was having a hard time. Any time she was close enough to do any damage he knocked her back. She may have beskar armor now, a fact she was extremely grateful for, but the force of being knocked around so much was sure to leave her bruised all over under her armor.

Damn it all, where was Torian when she needed him? They had separated when they found the gang's hideout, hoping to take out more of the gang if they took them out from both entrances. It was just Luccii's luck that she'd encountered their boss almost right off the bat. Meanwhile Torian was across the base taking on a swarm of thugs. She could hear grunts and shouts as he was taking down foe after foe. She was alone in this fight... and she was losing.

Luccii pushed herself back up to her feet, shaking her head to make her double vision go away. She prepared herself just in time to dodge another punch that would have surely knocked her out. She winced at the sound of the nikto's hand colliding with the wall behind her, turning a good chunk of it to rubble. No, that wouldn't have just knocked her out. A punch that powerful would have surely killed her.

"Get back here, ya little shrimp." The nikto growled, grabbing for her as she ran around him. At least, because she was smaller than him, she was able to avoid him. But she was using so much energy simply avoiding the enormous nikto that she couldn't even do any damage to him. And even then, she wasn't able to dodge every hit.

Luccii cried out as the nikto managed to grab her and slam her into the ground, knocking the air out of her lungs. She didn't even get a chance to recover before he grabbed her leg and threw her against a wall. Pain shot throughout her body and bright lights flashed in her eyes. She slid down to the ground, beaten and nearly unconscious. It was her stubborn will that kept her awake, but the charging Nikto would soon change that. She was powerless against him, but she still fought with all she had as the nikto grabbed her by the throat and held her up in front of him, choking her. Her punches and kicks were futile, and her vision was beginning to go dark. And then his grip suddenly loosened, just enough to keep her in the conscious world. She barely noticed the nikto take off her helmet and toss it aside.

"Heh. You're pretty cute, for a human." the nikto grinned, pulling her close to his face. She nearly puked at the stench of his breath, and if she'd had the energy, she would have rolled her eyes at him for mistaking her for a human. "I just might have some fun with ya before I kill ya." Her stomach lurched at that thought and she did the only thing she could think of. She spat in his face. She'd rather die. The nikto glared at her and resumed choking her. "Bitch. Now you're gonna have to die nice and slow."

"Fuck... you..." she strangled out as she reached for a grenade in her pouch. She wasn't dying without a fight.

She was just a split second away from pulling the pin when she was suddenly knocked out of the Nikto's hands. Or more like, the Nikto was knocked away and he dropped her. Luccii closed her eyes, bracing herself to meet the ground violently, but she never hit. She felt arms around her as she was gently lowered to the ground and propped up against the wall. She slowly opened her eyes, finding herself face to face with Torian, three of them to be exact. That nikto sure did a number on her.

" _K'oyacyi_." His voice was surprisingly soft as he set her down. He gently tapped her cheek as her triple vision faded and she blinked up at him, earning a light smile. " _Su cuy'gar_."

" _Vor'e_." Luccii mumbled her thanks to him as he administered a kolto pack to her. He'd saved her just in time. Another second and she would have blown herself up with the nikto. She saw him looking her over, and his eyes told her all she needed to know. This was one pissed off mandalorian. She watched him as he stood and put on his helmet, drawing his vibrosword as he faced the nikto, who was getting back on his feet after being knocked down by a pissed mando.

"Great, there's more of you." the nikto growled. "I'll just have to kill you, too!" he charged at Torian, who prepared himself for the battle ahead. Luccii could do nothing but watch with apprehension as the nikto got ever closer to Torian. She flinched, half expecting Torian to be thrown around just like she had been. She was surprised when he held his ground against the charging Nikto, only sliding back about an inch when the impact came. This surprised the nikto, as well, and his surprise was his downfall. He'd let his guard down enough for Torian to retaliate. Torian wasted no time against this enemy, his rage at his _cyar'ika_ being harmed coming out. There was a sound of flesh ripping and blood spraying, and the next thing Luccii knew, a nikto head was rolling on the ground.

" _Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade_." Torian practically spat at the dead body on the ground before turning to hurry back to Luccii. He kneeled in front of her as he looked over the battered and injured woman. Luccii could only stare at him weakly, taking in his blood covered form. She couldn't even see his face, but he'd never looked more handsome to her than he was now, covered in the blood of a fallen foe.

" _Copaani gaan?_ " Torian asked as he gently helped her to her feet. His question was answered as her knees buckled and he had to catch her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and draped her arm over his shoulder. "Let's get ya patched up." he said as he pressed his free hand to his helmet. "Mako. Need a medic. Now."

" _Torian? What happened? Is Lu okay?_ " Mako's voice came through the speaker in his helmet.

"She's alive." was all Torian said.

" _I'm on my way._ " Mako said, signing off. Torian shifted Luccii so she would put more of her weight on him.

"Torian..." Luccii laid her head against his shoulder, her head suddenly feeling very heavy. He glanced at her and she gave him a weak smile. "Thank you."

* * *

Another chapter yay!

So I mentioned in the last chapter how Luccii was an Echani. Here's some fun info: Echani and Mandalorians sorta dislike each other. A lot. Now Luccii is a rather special case... but we will get into that later. In any case, because she has blue eyes instead of their trademark silver, and because she doesn't just outright say what her race is, most people just assume she's another near-human alien, or just assume she's a human with dyed hair.

Mando'a from this chapter:

Kandosii: good, great

Tion'ad hukaat'kama?: Who's watching your back?

Darasuum: forever, always

K'oyacyi: come back safely, hang in there, literally a command to stay alive

Su cuy'gar: hello, literally: so you're still alive

Vor'e: Thanks

Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade: Don't mess with Mandalorians

Copaani gaan?: Need a hand?

Thanks for reading, tell me what you think!

-Zora


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Aliit

It was not often that Luccii was around a large group of Mandalorians. In fact, with her lifestyle, it was pretty rare. The last time had been on Taris, and she'd only stayed but a few minutes, just long enough to find out where Torian was. Before that, her adoption ceremony, and before that, her Great Hunt victory party. Three times. In two years. And there was a reason for it. Mandalorians typically did not like her, simply because of her Echani blood. She'd encountered more than her fair share of spiteful mandos. Her people were not exactly friends to the mandalorians; they were more like rivals. In fact, her race had been one of the main reasons Tarro Blood singled her out in the Great Hunt.

So it made sense that she tended to avoid large groups of them. Or hide her features when she was. Her eyes may be uncharacteristically blue, but the rest of her was pure Echani blood. They would be able to put two and two together. And then the snide remarks would come, followed by threats, followed by violence. So she always wore her helmet until she was sure she could trust a mandalorian.

Torian was... different. He hadn't cared about her race from the start. _Aliit ori'shya tal'din_. Family is more than blood, he told her, and mandalorians were supposed to not care about race, anyways, with the way they constantly adopted outsiders into their ranks from any race that desired to join. He made it obvious to her from the start that it didn't matter what race she was; he would still be interested in her because of who she was as a person.

But his words didn't stop her from wearing a helmet around the mandalorian camp, even though the whole camp was shaded from Tatooine's two suns. Even though Torian was standing protectively close to her. She knew, if it came to it, he would defend her and her honor from his own brothers. But she was hoping it wouldn't come to that. This was his best friend's clan, practically Torian's family, and she would hate herself if she caused a rift to come between them.

"Well, well, well. Haven't seen clan Cadera in a long time. Almost thought you were dead, _vod_." a deep masculine voice came, making Torian and Luccii turn towards the sound of it. They saw a young man approaching them with a large grin on his face. Torian grinned back.

"Corridan Ordo. How's life treating you?" Torian grinned as Corridan came up and slapped his back.

"Life's great, _vod_. Lot's of hunts, lots of money, lots of women, lots of booze. I'm living the dream." Corridan laughed merrily. "How about you? Heard you redeemed your family's name and then practically disappeared."

"Joined the Champion's crew." Torian told him. Then he took Luccii's hand and pulled her over so he could introduce her. "Luc, meet my blood brother, Corridan Ordo. Corridan, this is Luccii, the Great Hunt Champion."

"Pleasure." Luccii nodded politely. "Any friend of Torian's is a friend of mine."

"Likewise, though by that _aliik_ on your shoulder you two are more than just friends." Corridan grinned, noticing the Cadera crest on her armor. Luccii blushed, thankful her helmet hid it, and Torian just grinned. "Wish I could meet the face of my future sister." Corridan winked at Luccii now. Luccii glanced at Torian and he nodded. She could trust Corridan. With a small sigh she pulled off her helmet, preparing for the worst, just in case. "Ah, never met a blue-eyed Echani before. Or any Echani, really. Don't see your kind every day, and certainly not in mando camps." Corridan said with a smirk. "I see the reason for the helmet, but you really have nothing to worry about here. This is my clan. They listen to me or they die. Simple as that."

"Told you there was nothing to worry about." Torian smiled at her. Luccii looked around, noticing that, while other mandolorians were staring simply because they were strangers, nobody was giving her dirty looks. They didn't seem to care what race she was. She let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding in.

"Thank you." she nodded her thanks to Corridan. It had been a long time since she was around other mandalorians with her helmet off. The last time had been at her adoption, and Mandalore was there so nobody could really say anything.

"No need to thank me." Corridan laughed. "You're my future sister. _Aliit_. I want you to feel like you belong here." he grinned before looking to Torian. "So, what brings Clan Cadera all the way out into the wilds of Tatooine?"

"Been taking bounties here for about a month now." Torian told him. "Heard rumors of a rogue mando not far from here."

"Ah, Kreegan Ramar." Corridan nodded. "That _shabuir_ is a disgrace to the Mandalorian name."

"We've been hired to kill him." Luccii said. "We took down a lot of his underlings. Torian finally caught Kreegan's trail, and we don't think he's far from here."

"Really? Would have never guessed he was so close to us." Corridan scratched his chin.

"Heard Clan Ordo was stationed nearby. Was hoping to resupply before we head out there to get him." Torian added with a grin.

"Certainly! Help yourself, we've got plenty to go around, _vod_." Corridan laughed happily now. "But..." He glanced at the two suns in the distance. They were very close to the horizon now. "Night time's approaching fast. Trust me, you don't want to be out there at night. Tatooine gets real cold real fast."

"He's going to slip away if we don't go after him now." Luccii said, looking to Torian. "It's bad enough he already knows we're going after him. If we lose this trail he will be gone forever."

"Agreed." Torian nodded. "We have to take our chances with the night." Corridan just nodded, understanding.

"C'mon, I'll show you where we keep our supplies. Help yourselves."

* * *

"Getting dark fast." Torian commented, his voice muffled by static in Luccii's ears. She needed to replace this headset; too many blows to the head had damaged it.

"Make camp?" Luccii offered, though she knew what he would say.

"We'll lose him if we do." he gave the answer she was expecting. She just nodded and held onto him tighter as they sped over the dunes of sand on the speeder they'd purchased at the last port. They stopped here and there to make sure they could still find Kreegan's trail.

"He sure went far out." Luccii grumbled as the suns went ever lower. She expected it would be pitch black here in twenty minutes or so. "Can we track him in the dark?"

"You doubt my skills?" his voice was amused, which made her smile. She shook her head against his shoulder.

"Never." His laughter filled her ears and she smiled again. This was nice, being alone with Torian on a hunt, one where she, for once, was following his lead. This bounty had been Torian's pick. He'd heard about the rogue mandalorian and had insisted that they end him. He was giving a bad name to mandalorians, and Torian wasn't about to let that continue any longer. Luccii hadn't seen Torian take charge like this since they were hunting Jincoln. It was a nice change of pace, and seeing Torian in control and leading a hunt like this was rather... arousing.

"Getting close." Torian interrupted her thoughts. She looked around, noticing that the suns had completely set now. The headlight on the speeder was their only source of light, aside from the stars above them. It was a rather beautiful sight, one she would not soon forget.

"How can you tell?" Luccii found herself asking. She couldn't see anything like this. Torian pointed to a faint marking in the sand that he was following.

"He abandoned his speeder a little ways back. Following his footprints now." he told her as he cut the engine to their speeder. "He's not far. We go on foot from here." Luccii nodded and got off the speeder. She grabbed the pack with their rations and followed Torian as he tracked Kreegan. She kept her pistol drawn and her eyes open, watching Torian's back as he focused on the trail. She was suddenly lifted into Torian's arms as he quickly but silently carried her behind a large nearby rock. "He's there. Set up camp." his voice was a ghost of a whisper but she heard it. She nodded, silently confirming that she heard him as he set her on her feet. She peeked out from behind the rock, her eyes just barely catching the faint shimmer of a fire down the hill from them. He'd picked a good place to camp, where he could see someone coming from a distance from all directions. And his position in the valley of these sand dunes kept his fire from being seen until you were close enough for him to see you. He could easily escape into the dark this way.

"His back is to us." Torian whispered as he, too, took in the scene. "Probably has traps behind him."

"What do you suggest?" Luccii whispered back as quietly as she could.

"Could snipe him." he whispered. "Will only get one chance. If I miss you will have to rush him. Take him from the side, not behind." He paused and looked down at her. "Think you can handle it?" Luccii pondered the plan for a moment. She was still healing from that damn nikto. He'd broken several ribs and her leg in that fight. Her leg had healed but her ribs... they were taking longer. She could fight... but she was severely hindered by her still fading injuries.

"If I can end it quickly I'll be fine." she told him quietly. "Don't know how long I can go against him on my own though."

"I'll cover you." Torian assured her, and she nodded. She trusted him, and knew he would do everything in his power to prevent a repeat of the nikto incident. She knew he still felt bad about that, he'd even told her so. She had almost been killed that day, and he blamed himself for suggesting that they split up.

"I'll get set up. Wait for my signal." He turned to leave, then paused, turning back to her. He lightly headbutted her with their helmets. " _K'oyaci, c'yare_." And then he was gone, disappearing into the night. Luccii waited a few seconds before silently sneaking around Kreegan's camp, staying out of sight as she moved into position.

All was silent for several minutes. And then a small flash of light and the whiz on a bullet came, followed by a startled shout from their bounty. Luccii watched as the mandalorian fell back with the impact, and she mentally flinched as memories of Jincoln sniping her in a similar fashion flashed through her eyes. He hadn't killed her, but he hadn't been aiming to. And those shots had hurrrrtttt... Torian would hate her for thinking this, but he was more like his father than he would ever know.

" _Haar'chak!_ Luc, now!" Torian's voice came through her headset. She was on her feet and rushing the mandalorian as he struggled to stand. She saw why Torian wanted her to rush him. He'd hit Kreegan, but it wasn't a fatal wound. The bullet had hit squarely in the stomach, and his armor had stopped it from doing too much damage. It knocked the wind out of him and left him open to attack, but that was it.

Luccii made it to the camp before Kreegan was on his feet, but he'd seen her coming and had his blaster raised. Torian sniped the blaster out of his hands as Luccii whipped out her wrist knife. She needed to end this fight before it started. She'd heard of Kreegan's prowess as a fighter, and she did not intend to come out of this with more injuries than she already had.

Kreegan parried her first attack, but she managed to knock him off balance. She managed to slice through an unarmored portion of his arm, but that would only slow him down a little. She needed to get him at a vital point, or this fight would be drawn out longer than she could handle. Already she could feel a painful stitch in her side. Much more of this and the pain would be fatally distracting. As it was, the wound made her wince, and it was visible enough to Kreegan Ramar that she was injured.

"Fuck." She cursed herself as she barely dodged an attack aimed for her injury. He was going to play dirt. She needed to end this. Now. Kreegan let out a roar as he attacked again, and she was unprepared for his sudden speed. Torian's panicked shout filled her ears as all she could do was try to block the attack.

"C'yare!"

* * *

Hehe I'm mean, leaving you guys with a cliff hanger. Thanks for reading and tell me what you think. Next chapter coming soon!

Mando'a for this chapter:

Aliit ori'shya tal'din: family is more than blood

Vod: friend, mate, companion

aliik: symbol, crest

Aliit: family

shabuir: extreme insult; jerk but much harsher

Haar'chak: damn it

Everything else has already been said in previous chapters.

Until next time!

-Zora


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Passion

* * *

Previously:

 _Luccii made it to the camp before Kreegan was on his feet, but he'd seen her coming and had his blaster raised. Torian sniped the blaster out of his hands as Luccii whipped out her wrist knife. She needed to end this fight before it started. She'd heard of Kreegan's prowess as a fighter, and she did not intend to come out of this with more injuries than she already had._

 _Kreegan parried her first attack, but she managed to knock him off balance. She managed to slice through an unarmored portion of his arm, but that would only slow him down a little. She needed to get him at a vital point, or this fight would be drawn out longer than she could handle. Already she could feel a painful stitch in her side. Much more of this and the pain would be fatally distracting. As it was, the wound made her wince, and it was visible enough to Kreegan Ramar that she was injured._

 _"Fuck." She cursed herself as she barely dodged an attack aimed for her injury. He was going to play dirty. She needed to end this. Now. Kreegan let out a roar as he attacked again, and she was unprepared for his sudden speed. Torian's panicked shout filled her ears as all she could do was try to block the attack._

 _"C'yare!"_

* * *

" _C'yare!_ Down!" Torian's voice shouted through her headset. Though she was mid-block, she instinctually dropped down at his command, lying flat on the ground as the whir of another bullet came. Kreegan stumbled at her sudden drop, and then let out a shout as he was hit in the shoulder with Torian's bullet. Still not a fatal wound, but he stumbled from the impact, and Torian's perfect timing had kept Luccii from losing her head.

"Fuckin brats!" Kreegan growled as Luccii rolled away from him, getting on her feet just in time to dodge a barrage of blaster shots coming from her side. She glanced to her side and cursed her luck. Kreegan wasn't alone. He had some goonies camped out not far from him.

"Torian." her voice filled with unease. She was nowhere near prepared to take on several enemies at once. Not in this state.

"I see them." his voice was calm. "Focus on the bounty. I got you covered, _c'yare_." As he finished his sentence one of the incoming goonies let out a shout before falling to the ground, lifeless. Luccii barely had time to notice the kill, as Kreegan had regained his footing and was charging her again.

"You think you can take me down? Let's see you try!" Kreegan shouted, aiming once again for Luccii's injured side. She managed to dodge just in time, rolling away from him and drawing her blaster. She shot him in the head. The blast bounced off his helmet, but it disoriented him enough for her to get the upper hand. She attacked with a flurry of missiles and laser blasts, using everything at her disposal to take him down. She only managed to slow him down and injure his leg. She needed to get the drop on him, or this fight would never end.

"Got 'em." Torian's voice came through her headset. She spared a glance at where Kreegan's thugs had come from, finding a pile of corpses. Torian was damn good with that sniper rifle. "Crouch." he didn't have to tell her twice. She instantly crouched down on her haunches, preparing her wrist blade as Kreegan charged at her again. Torian sniped him in the groin, making the mandalorian snarl in pain and anger as he stumbled from the shot.

His stumble left himself wide open to Luccii's blade. She jumped up from her crouched position and attacked him with her wrist blade, grinning as it hit exactly where she wanted it, the jugular.

" _Kandosii!_ " Torian cheered through her headset at her lethal blow.

The sound of flesh being torn and bones cracking filled her ears as his blood sprayed all over her. Luccii grimaced as her blade got stuck halfway through. She yanked it out roughly, knowing that she'd done enough damage to be lethal, and she watched as Kreegan Ramar fell to his knees, gurgling as blood filled his crushed airway. He was going to bleed out, no matter what, and it was going to take him several minutes to do so, unless he drowned in his own blood first. She felt pity, even though she shouldn't. He was a horrible man who gave mandalorians a bad name.

But dying a slow painful death like this was one horrible way to go. So she took out her blaster and yanked off his helmet, surprised to find a zabrak under the red and black armor. He had tan skin, horns all over his head, and a crop of black hair on the top of his head. His nearly black eyes were begging her to just end it, and so she did with a single shot between his eyes, watching as his body slumped over and fell to the ground.

She stood there for a while, panting to recover her breath as she stared down at the corpse below her. It was over... She looked around for Torian once she caught her breath. He should be coming down the dunes by now, but she couldn't see him. "Torian?" she called out through her headset.

" _C'yare_..." Torian's voice came not through her headset like she was expecting. Instead she heard him right behind her. She jumped in surprise; how did he always manage to sneak up on her like that? Before she could turn to look at him she felt his arm slide around her waist, pulling her back against his chest. "You're so beautiful, covered in the blood of an enemy..." his voice was low, primal. She shivered, and then felt his free hand gently take off her helmet and toss it aside. The moment she turned her head to look at him his lips crashed into hers, surprising her. She felt him pull at her hair tie, freeing her white hair so he could run his fingers through it. He grabbed the back of her head and kissed her deeply as she gave in to him, once her surprise faded. She turned towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer.

"Torian..." Luccii panted when he finally pulled away to let her breathe. Her face turned red as he expertly found a latch on the armor he made for her, releasing the mechanism that kept it secured to her body. It fell to the ground with a thud, leaving her in just her boots, pants, and her bodysuit. She opened her mouth to speak but he silenced her with another kiss, this time completely dominating her mouth. He quickly found the binding on her armored pants and undid them, causing the heavy armor to fall down around her ankles. Torian was quick to pick her up and lift her away from all the armor, the heaviness of her pants keeping her boots from coming with her. Luccii pulled away as he held her up against him. She knew where this was going... and she didn't know if she was ready for this yet. "T-Torian I..."

"Shh." he whispered against her lips as he carried her to the small tent Kreegan had set up. "I know, _c'yare_." He kissed her again, softer this time. "But I can't wait anymore." Luccii's eyes softened at this. She wasn't being fair to him. He was torturing himself by holding back, per her wishes. Yet he did as she asked without complaint, and he never tried to pressure her into it. He was so good to her. The least she could do was finally face her fear.

 ******LEMON****LEMON****LEMON****LEMON****LEMON****LEMON******

She blushed as he laid her down on the bedroll, and she watched as he quickly yet carefully removed his own armor. They were both in their bodysuits now, which showed each other everything the other had to offer. She blushed furiously at the already prominent bulge between his legs. He locked eyes with her now. She'd never seen such a predatory look in his eyes before.

"No more running, _c'yare_." he said as he crawled over her. He captured her mouth with another kiss, a softer one. "I've wanted you since I first laid eyes on you."

"Torian, I'm..." she trailed off as he kissed her yet again. She was untouched... and she knew he knew it. And she knew it was why he'd been so patient with her...

"I know, _c'yare_. I won't hurt you." he whispered soothingly to her. "Trust me. _Gedet'ye_."

"I..." she couldn't speak, she was so nervous. So she nodded instead. Torian kissed her, softly at first, and then it turned heated. They spent several minutes just kissing, as Torian tried to calm her down and ease her fears.

" _Mesh'la_... you're so beautiful." he whispered against her lips as she slowly relaxed beneath him. He kissed a trail along her neck, stopping to suck at her collar bone. Luccii bit back a moan at this. "Let me hear you. Every sound you want to make, make it." he bit at the tender mark he just left on her, grinning when she didn't hold back her moan. His lips returned to hers as his hands began to wander her body. He caressed her over her bodysuit, loving the feel of her curves without the armor in the way. He wanted to feel her skin against his, he wanted to touch and kiss and love every inch of her beautiful body.

Luccii blushed as Torian slid his hands beneath her and slowly pulled down the zipper to her bodysuit. She soon found herself bare before his eyes, her suit tossed out of the tent. His own suit followed shortly and he crawled back over her, kissing a trail up her stomach to her breasts. She cried out as he took a nipple into his mouth and sucked at her like a child. His hand came up to cup her other breast, his fingers pulling and teasing her other nipple. Torian eventually kissed his way back up to her neck, both hands teasing her breasts. He groaned as Luccii gasped and moaned so beautifully for him. She was so beautiful...

* * *

He couldn't help himself. He really couldn't. When Torian came down the hill and saw her standing over a fallen foe, covered head to toe in his blood, he just couldn't stop himself. He couldn't even see her face, but that didn't matter. He'd never seen her so attractive before. She was like a war goddess, and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was behind her. She called out to him, her beautiful voice sending chills down his spine and heat straight to his groin.

" _C'yare_..." her jump let him know he'd startled her. He grabbed her before she could turn around, and he held her close against him. Even with two layers of armor between them, holding her so close like this sent fire right to his loins. "You're so beautiful, covered in the blood of an enemy..." He pulled off her helmet and kissed her before either one of them knew what was happening. She was surprised, but she responded almost instantly, turning in his arms to kiss him back. Damn, he'd never wanted a woman so bad.

He found himself unlatching her armor, knowing exactly where the mechanism was. He'd made the armor, after all, he should know how it works. Her adorable blush was his reward when the armor fell at her feet. God, she made him want her even more, with how she was looking at him like he was the only thing in the universe. He could see the fear and nervousness in her eyes, but also the complete trust she had for him. He really couldn't stop himself now. He kissed her with as much passion as he could, pulling her close to him as he fumbled around for the bindings of her pants. As soon as they fell away from her he picked her up and started carrying her to Kreggan's tent, the rogue mandalorian's corpse officially forgotten in the sand just a few feet away from them.

"T-Torian I..." Luccii's nervous voice came as he carried her. He silenced her with a kiss. He could feel her nervousness wafting off of her, but there was no stopping him now. He'd held himself back from her for almost two years now... this was his breaking point. He knew she was a virgin, and he'd been patient with her all this time. But she knew a day would come when even his patience reached its limits... and that day was today.

"I know, _c'yare_ , but I can't wait anymore." he whispered against her lips before lowering her onto the bedroll in the tent. He felt her emotions shift from fearful to understanding, and he knew then that she would face her fears tonight... just for him.

And now, here he was. His beautiful _cyar'ika_ was beneath him, panting and moaning as he kissed her and touched her. Her gorgeous white hair was fanned out around her, her cheeks were a beautiful rosy color, and her dazzling blue eyes blinked up at him, filled with love and passion. Torian licked his lips as he stared at her, taking her in, engraving this image of her into his mind. And then he kissed her again, groaning as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back eagerly. He couldn't hold back anymore, he had to have her. He had to make her his.

Keeping her distracted with the kiss, Torian gently pulled her legs up around his waist. She moaned beautifully for him as he rubbed his member against her entrance, although she did tense up slightly. He pulled back from the kiss and moved his lips to her ear. "Relax, _c'yare_ , or it will hurt no matter how gentle I am." he whispered against her ear.

"I-I'm nervous..." her voice trembled with her unease. He kissed along her neck before returning to her lips for a quick kiss. Then he stared her in the eye.

"Trust me, _c'yare_. Just relax." he whispered to her as he stared into her beautiful blue eyes. Her nervousness didn't fade, but he could see the trust in her eyes return. She nodded slowly and forced herself to relax. Torian gave her a supportive smile before kissing her again. He grabbed his member and guided it to her entrance, groaning as the tip slid into her tight cavern. Luccii held onto him for dear life as he slowly slid further and further into her. When she tensed up around him he knew it finally became painful for her. He whispered soothing words against her ear as he continued, holding her form close against him to comfort her. It helped that her maidenhead had already been torn thanks to her adventurous lifestyle, but adjusting to his intrusion, especially with someone of his girth, was going to be hard for her at first.

"T-Torian..." she buried her face in his neck as he finally pushed all the way into her. He groaned and buried his nose in her hair as he held her close. He stayed still despite the powerful urge to just pound her to his heart's content. He wanted this to be pleasant for his _c'yare_ , and the only way that would happen is if he took his time and let her adjust to him. He stared down at her now. She was still hiding her face in his neck, but she was slowly relaxing in his arms as the pain was fading.

"Still alive?" he whispered against her ear. She nodded against him and slowly looked up at him. Her blue eyes showed pain, but that was quickly fading.

"The worst... is over?" she asked timidly, and he nodded in confirmation. That was the worst pain she would ever feel coming from Torian. From there on out he planned to never ever cause her any pain ever again. "You can... move now." she gave an experimental roll of her hips and then moaned softly at the sensation.

" _C'yare_." Torian groaned at her movement. He captured her lips again and set a slow pace, letting her get used to the motions. When she was openly moaning at the sensations, he picked up the pace, making her gasp beautifully for him. She held onto him for dear life as he made her feel pleasures she'd never experienced before.

Luccii moaned so beautifully for him as he attacked her neck, kissing and sucking at the sensitive skin there as he increased his pace even more. One of his hands made its way up to a breast and he teased and pulled at her nipple while he made love to his _cyar'ika_. He felt her grabbing at him, scratching his back and lightly biting his lip as he kissed her. Her pants were becoming more labored and she was arching up against him. He could tell she was close to her end, though it was obvious that she didn't quite know what was coming. He smirked against her lips, she was in for a treat here very soon. He picked up the pace yet again, thrusting deep and hard into her tight sweet core.

Luccii cried out at the new pace, clinging to Torian like he was her lifeline to reality. She felt... something building up within her. Oh, it felt so good. She didn't know what it was but she didn't want it to stop. Torian's hands were all over her and his lips were back on her neck again, sucking on that spot that made her go crazy. Torian suddenly shifted the angle of her hips, and she was hit with pleasure so overwhelming that she couldn't help but scream his name. Stars filled her vision and she arched up against Torian as she held onto him for dear life. She'd never felt anything this good in her life.

Torian groaned as Luccii came, crying so beautifully for him. His name spilled from her lips as she arched against him. He held her close to him as she rode out her high. When she finally collapsed beneath him he sped up the pace, trying to reach his end now. He buried his face in her neck with a groan as he came inside of her. A few more gentle thrusts, and then he slowly pulled out of her. He collapsed onto the bedroll beside his exhausted _cyar'ika_ , pulling her into his arms.

 ******END LEMON******

"Mine." Torian had never been one to be possessive, but he made an exception when it came to Luccii. He'd worked so hard to get her, to make her his. He found his soul mate in this little woman, and the day he gave her that _beskar_ armor he made for her, as an engagement gift, had been one of his happiest days yet. This... today was now at the top of that list. She was finally his; mind, body, and soul. There was no way he was letting go of her now.

"Mine." Torian grinned when she repeated the words back to him, wrapping her arms around his chest and hugging him. That's right. He was hers, just as much as she was his.

" _Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum_." he kissed her temple softly as he held her close. "I love you, _c'yare_. Now and forever."

"Torian... I love you, too." Luccii smiled up at him sleepily. She couldn't imagine her life without him in it. She'd never been so happy in her life than she was in this moment. She'd never felt so safe and loved before... "I love you, Torian."

* * *

"Bioscan incoming." Torian told Gault through his headset as he scanned Kreegan Ramar's corpse.

" _That's our target, alright._ " Gault confirmed. " _I'll let the client know to deposit the money, and give him the coordinates to the bodies. Bet they'll pay us extra for that mandalorian iron they got on them._ "

"They better, it's good quality. We're on our way back to the ship." Torian let him know.

" _Roger that._ " Gault said, and they disconnected. Torian picked up his helmet and turned back to the tent, where his _cyar'ika_ was still asleep. He smiled as he poked his head inside the tent. She was so beautiful when she was asleep. Her hair was a mess and she was snoring lightly, but to him she was gorgeous. It certainly helped that she was still rather nude and showing him everything she had to offer. He wanted to let her sleep some more, seeing as how he'd kept her awake a good portion of the night, but the suns were rising and it would soon be unbearably hot here. They needed to get back to the ship, and soon.

" _C'yare_..." he kneeled down beside her and gently caressed her cheek. She grumbled and turned away from him. He just smirked and leaned over her, pecking a few kisses on her plump lips. It didn't take long for her to respond to his kisses, and he soon found her kissing back. He pulled away when he was certain she was awake, and then he grinned down at his sleepy _c'yare_. " _Su cuy'gar_." he smiled at her.

" _Su'cuy_." she mumbled back sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "It's still dark..." she yawned.

"Not for long." he told her. "Need to get back to the ship. The suns will be up soon." He stood up from her and helped her to her feet, grinning when she blushed at the stickiness between her legs.

"Need to clean up..." she said with a blush.

"No time." Torian chuckled lightly, pulling her into his arms with a kiss. She moaned softly at the feel of his cool armor against her bare skin. "Get dressed. We can clean up at the ship."

"Okay." she blushed. He watched her walk out of the tent and over to her armor, not hiding the fact that he was ogling her curvaceous form. She blushed deeper when she caught him staring at her, but she said nothing of it as she set about getting dressed. She frowned at all the blood on her armor. It was going to be a pain to clean it all off at the ship.

A few minutes later they had hiked back to the speeder and were heading back to Mos Ila. Luccii fell asleep on the long ride, leaning heavily against Torian as he piloted the speeder through the city and up to the space port. She didn't wake up even as Torian scooped her up into his arms and carried her all the way to the ship.

The moment Torian entered the ship he had a worried teen and a curious devaronian around him. "Lu! Is she okay, Torian? Is she hurt? There's so much blood." Mako gasped at all the dried blood on Luccii's armor.

"Not her blood." Torian assured the teen. "Calm down, Mako. She's fine. Just asleep." His tone left no room for debate, she needed to be quiet. Now. Thankfully she got the hint and backed off, calming down once she knew her friend/sister was okay.

"Never seen Lulu this exhausted before. Must've been a tough fight." Gault mentioned, keeping his voice down. He looked over Luccii's form and caught sight of a slightly hidden mark on her neck. "Or maybe it wasn't the fighting that wore her out." he gave Torian a sly glance before grinning to himself. Whatever the devaronian decided in his head, Torian didn't want to know.

"Gonna put her in bed." Torian said, moving past the two to go up the stairs. He made it to Luccii's quarters and laid her down on the bed, gently removing her chestplate from her person, and then her boots. She would be fine to sleep in her body suit and pants for now. Right now she just needed sleep.

"Sooo, what exactly happened out there?" Gault was waiting for him when he left Luccii's quarters. Torian glanced at the devaronian.

"Hunted down a bounty. Same as usual." he shrugged, walking away to head back downstairs. He needed a shower after being out in those hot suns for nearly a week without break. He knew he probably smelled worse than a decaying bantha. Gault followed him; he wasn't going to let this drop.

"Don't play coy, boy." Gault smirked. "I know a hickey when I see one, and Lulu's never been this exhausted after a hunt before. I can put two and two together."

"Then you know exactly what happened." Torian countered as he reached the refresher. Gault stared at him in surprise for a moment before laughing.

"Got me there." he laughed as Torian unlatched his armor. It fell to the floor with a loud thud, which made Gault jump in surprise. He shared bunks with this kid and had seen him out of armor plenty of times, but he never knew his armor was heavy enough to make the ship shake. "Damn, kid, who ya trying to impress?" Torian looked at Gault and grinned cockily.

"You know exactly who. And it worked." he surprised Gault with his straightforwardness on the subject. Before Gault could get over his shock, over, Torian was in the refresher, and he felt it would be best to resume this conversation later.

* * *

Lol sorry for the shoddy excuse for fun banter at the end there. Anyways, tell me what you think! How was that lemon? Too detailed, not detailed enough? I felt that, with all the adrenaline from a tough fight, plus a lot of sexual tension, this was a great place for a spontaneous lemon. Especially for a mandalorian and echani, both of whom thrive off of battle like this...

Anyways... woo, longest chapter to date! Also I should mention, Kreegan Ramar's race is never mentioned. Him being a zabrak is simply my take on his character.

Mando'a for this chapter:

Kandosii: good, excellent, great

Gedet'ye: please

Mesh'la: beautiful

Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum: I love you

ALSO I realized I've been accidentally spelling cyar'ika as c'yarika. This is a mistake on my part, and I will fix the other chapters when I get the chance.

Thanks for reading. Please review!

-Zora


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Downtime

Luccii stared at the screen in shock, and then looked between Gault and the screen several times. "You're kidding me, right?" she asked with wide eyes. Gault just grinned smugly.

"Lulu, you know by now I never kid about money."

"But... that... that's almost three times what they hired us for." Luccii looked back at the numbers on the screen. "Where did those little jawas even come up with that much money?"

"You remember those other mandalorian bandits, right, Lulu?" Gault questioned and she nodded. There were at least five goons with Kreegan Ramar that attacked out of nowhere. Nearly killed her, too, until Torian took them out for her. "They each had full sets of top-grade mandalorian iron armor." Gault informed her. "That's expensive stuff right there. Torian almost hauled it all back but there wouldn't have been enough room on the speeder to get it all. So we struck up a deal with the little jawas to buy it from us so we wouldn't have to transport it."

"Clever." Luccii hummed thoughtfully. "Didn't know _beskar_ was so expensive though..."

"Only mandos know how to make it." Torian's voice came as he entered the galley, wearing loose gray lounge pants and a tight black tank top. Luccii blushed lightly at his attire, memories of that night on Tatooine flashing through her head. "Outsiders rarely get their hands on it. They'll pay a lot for some high quality _beskar._ "

"Still, this much money?" Luccii once more looked at the numbers. "We won't have to take another bounty for a while with what they gave us."

"Looks about right to me." Torian said, leaning over her shoulder to look at how much money the jawas paid them. "Six sets of high quality _beskar_ , plus the cost of the bounty."

"Hey, the way I see it, don't question it." Gault chuckled. "We just got a _really_ nice paycheck. Why worry about it?"

"He's got a point." Mako said as she entered the room. "Your bounty, plus everyone else's smaller bounties. We got paid extremely well on this trip. Nobody's complaining about that."

"True." Luccii hummed. "Still, we're set for a while. What should we do now?"

"Vacation time it is." Gault grinned, and laughed at Luccii's expression. "C'mon Lulu we know you mandos love to hunt, but let's face it. Every one of us, you two included," he pointed at her and Torian, "could really use a break now that we've got a chance."

"You are still healing, Lu." Mako commented. "Blizz is getting homesick, and Skadge won't shut up about seeing his buddies on Coruscant."

"What about you, Mako? Got somewhere you wanna go?" Luccii asked.

"Nowhere in particular. But I could use some time to just kick back and relax. Might head to Alderaan for one of their spas."

"I'm with you there, sister." Gault agreed to that. "Might hit up a beach on Rishi. Heard they have some decent cantinas there, too."

"Surely there's somewhere you want to go, Lu. Any family you might want to visit?" Mako asked with a smile. Luccii just sighed and shook her head.

"I'm not allowed home, anymore. Why else do you think I'm a wanderer? Echani tend to stay on Eshan." she told them nonchalantly. Gault and Mako raised an eyebrow at this, and even Torian seemed interested. He'd never thought to ask why Luccii had left her home planet to begin with. Luccii rolled her eyes at their curious glances. "Long story short, I did some things and ended up being told that if I ever returned I would be killed on sight."

"Did ya kill someone you weren't supposed to, Lulu?" Gault questioned with a smirk.

"Ha. If that's all I did then I'd still be home. Probably in jail, but still home." Luccii rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't wanna talk about it."

"Gault, leave her alone." Mako swatted at the devaronian when he opened his mouth again. He shut it with a sigh.

"Alright, alright. We've all got our pasts. Let's leave them there, in the past." he conceded. "And now for the present and near future... let's focus on this vacation of ours..."

* * *

"Never seen the ship so quiet." Torian commented as he came up behind Luccii. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a few kisses to her neck. She giggled softly and leaned back against him.

"I know. It's... weird." she smiled up at him. They'd just finished letting everyone off at the fleet, and now they were several parasecs away, heading for a planet of Torian's choosing. Luccii didn't even know where they were going yet; he'd simply plugged in some coordinates into the computer and turned on the autopilot. "So where are we headed, Torian?"

"Nar Shadaa." he hummed as he sat down in the captain's chair, pulling her down with him. She smiled as she landed on his lap, only to have her lips captured by his.

"Why Nar Shadaa, of all places?" Luccii tilted her head at him after the kiss.

"Why not?" he grinned back at her. "Way I see it, we can do whatever we want there. If you wanna relax, we can just relax. If you wanna gamble, you can. If you wanna stay busy we can always take down a few gangs while we're there."

"Hm, good point." Luccii grinned at him. How did he know she wasn't going to be happy just staying still and 'relaxing' at a plushy hotel? Probably because he felt the same. It would be a nice change of pace for a day or two, but then they'd both be itching for some action. They were mandalorians, after all. "Alright. I look forward to this vacation now."

* * *

"Not much has changed." Torian commented as he and Luccii maneuvered their way through the crowded marketplace. Luccii just nodded in agreement. This planet was still as overpopulated and crowded as ever. And, from the shady characters she saw lurking in the shadows, it was still just as dangerous.

"Where, exactly, are we going?" Luccii asked as she followed Torian through the marketplace.

"Found a bounty. Going to speak with a client." he grinned back at her.

"Did you read my mind?" she laughed lightly. She was honestly about to suggest taking a bounty anyways. They'd been planetside for a day and she was already restless, even though Torian had kept her quite thoroughly occupied for most of those two days...

"It's what I do." Torian gave a light chuckle. Luccii just smiled up at him and they returned to a peaceful silence, unaware of the pair of bright blue eyes watching their every move from the shadows.

* * *

That hair... her face... her smile... She was the spitting image of Leisa, right down to her button nose and the way she laughed. But her eyes... oh, her eyes... they were his eyes. His eyes!

He had been relaxing, for once in his life, and he'd decided to take a walk through the market. He did enjoy people watching, and there was certainly an abundance of people on Nar Shadaa. A familiar feminine laugh had filled his ears and alerted him to her presence. He spotted her instantly, her pure white hair standing out in all the dark colors of the marketplace. And then he saw her face, and her eyes, and he knew exactly who she was.

She was with a man, and they were both decked out in heavy armor. She was armed from head to toe, missiles and grenades hanging all over her, two blasters in holsters at her hips. The man was equally armed, if not more so, and he carried two blasters, a sniper, and a vibroblade. They were acting very friendly towards one another, smiling and laughing as they moved through the crowds, which parted for them once the civilians saw all their weapons.

Mandalorians. She was hanging out with mandalorians. From the crest on her shoulder, she was one of them. That was a twist he'd not expected. Mandalorians typically did not associate with Echani, but she seemed to be the exception. Then he spotted the other crest on her armor. It was a clan crest, and it matched the man's crest perfectly. She was married... if not, engaged for sure.

He watched them, watched every move they made. He could barely make out their words. They were talking about a bounty, and the man was leading them to a closed shop in the market. He couldn't help himself. He followed them, sticking to the shadows and using the crowds to hide in. They seemed unaware of his presence, which was good. He even managed to get close enough to hear them talking.

"So who's the client?" the female mandalorian asked her companion.

"An Evocii." he responded as he led her into the closed shop. "Said some gang's been terrorizing his shop. Wants us to take out the leader."

"The payment?" she questioned.

"Shopkeeper says the gang has a stash of raided credits and valuables. Said we can help ourselves to it." the mandalorian man answered her.

He followed them as silently as possible as they made their way to the shop keeper, who was halfway hiding behind his counter at the sight of two mandalorians approaching. "Hey, take it easy, pal." the female said to the shopkeeper. "We're here about that bounty you put out."

"Oh thank the stars." the evocii sighed in relief, coming out from behind the counter. "I was starting to think nobody would help me."

"Tell us who we're after." the male mandalorian said now.

"Ah, yes, um well it's the Krayt Dragon gang." the shopkeeper told him. "They come in here every week demanding protection money, and then they take almost everything I have for sale. They're ruining me. I can't feed my family like this. I-I just need you to make them stop. I know where their leader likes to hang out."

He watched as they talked about the bounty for a while. Finally the two mandalorians left. He hid around the corner and watched them leave, talking about how easy this bounty was going to be. Easy? Did they not know who the Krayt gang was? She was going to get killed, he just knew it. That's it, he's definitely going to follow them now.

* * *

"You okay?" Torian questioned as Luccii suddenly stopped and looked around.

"Feel like someone's watching me." she mumbled, turning back to him when she saw no sign of life near them.

"Feel dangerous?" Torian asked quietly. He'd felt the eyes on them, too, but whoever was watching them wasn't attacking, even though now would be a prime opportunity. He figured they weren't hostile, but he was keeping his guard up.

"No... but its unsettling." she sighed. She shook her head and put her helmet on. "Whatever, let them watch. We're almost to Krayt territory. I almost feel bad for these thugs."

"That shopkeeper hired the right mandos for the job." Torian chuckled, putting his own helmet on. He pulled her into his arms and gave her a light headbutt. "Good choice for a vacation?" his voice held a smile in it, and Luccii smiled back behind her helmet.

"Perfect choice." she told him before gently pulling out of his arms. "So perfect, I think I should reward you."

"Don't tease me, _c'yare_." Torians voice was a low rumble, and it sent a pleasant chill up her spine.

"Not teasing. It's a promise." she assured him. "For later."

"Then let's hurry this up. I want to have you to myself as soon as possible." his voice was amused, but it held a fiery promise that made her legs feel weak. She didn't respond, merely pulled out her blasters and motioned her head in the direction of Krayt territory.

"Let's hunt."

* * *

So they were married. Or at the very least lovers. He watched the young woman as her companion pulled her into his arms and gave her an affectionate headbutt. He'd seen other mandalorians do this with their spouses, it was like kissing but with helmets on. He watched the way she relaxed in the man's hold, and he heard her teasing promise. Definitely lovers, if nothing else.

He was surprised that she could sense him. He was an expert at stealth, after all, and while he knew she couldn't physically see him, he was still surprised that she sensed him. Maybe she took after him more than he thought.

They were entering Krayt territory now. It didn't take long for the gang to notice the pair of intruders and swarm. He almost went out there to help them, but he stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw. The pair moved in unison, taking down foe after foe. He watched them with awe, they moved so fluidly through the swarm of thugs. Her companion pulled her out of the way of a blade and she went with the motions easily, attacking a foe in front of her companion as she herself was pulled out of harms way. The male mandolorian had more strength, so he focused more on the enemies up close, while the female easily shot down enemies at mid range. They worked so perfectly together, and it was obvious that they had years of experience in battle together.

It was almost artistic. You could put classical music to the scene and it would bring a tear to your eye. He could do nothing but watch the couple fight their way through Krayt territory with ease, leaving piles of unconscious and dead men as they moved.

And then everything went silent, and the two Mandalorians were left standing alone in a room full of bodies. Not a speck of blood on their armor, not a single injury to show. They didn't even take a moment to pause before they continued further into the gang's territory.

So that's what they meant when they said it would be an easy paycheck.

* * *

"Not bad, not bad." Luccii hummed to herself as she went through the stash. There were a bunch of credit chips and jewelry in the chest they'd found. Plus a nice new pair of blasters, and some interesting baubles. Definitely worth the work to get here. "Think we've crippled them enough to make them stop terrorizing shops for a while?"

"More than enough." Torian nodded as Luccii stood up. She pocketed half the credit chips, handing Torian his own half with a smile.

"Easy jobs are so boring, but I guess this is better than just staying at the hotel." she hummed, smiling when Torian gave her a heated look.

"And what if I want to stay there for the rest of the trip, _cyar'ika_?" he grinned, slowly approaching her. He backed her up against the wall and grinned down at her.

"Well, depending on what we're going to do there, I might not oppose." she smiled slyly at him. She was rewarded with a hungry kiss from her mando lover as he pressed her against the wall. She tensed slightly when she felt that presence from before. Her slight tension alerted Torian to the presence, as well. Without having to say a word, they both reached for the other's blaster. Torians hands moved from her rear up to her blaster, easily pulling it from its holster at the same time as she did with his. They both aimed the guns at the shadows, where they knew someone was hiding.

"Come out. Now." Luccii demanded, breaking her kiss with Torian to speak. "I know you're there. Show yourself."

"Now, now, no need for violence." a man's voice came from the shadows, but he didn't show himself.

"There will be violence if you don't show yourself. Right now." Luccii threatened, cocking Torian's blaster with her thumb. "I do not play games."

"Alright. Just... put the weapons down. I mean no harm." The voice came again. Luccii glared at the shadows a moment before disarming the blaster and putting it back in Torian's holster. Torian did the same with hers and they both turned to face the shadowed area where the voice was coming from. They watched intently as a man in black robes came out of the shadows. He was tall and the robes did little to hide his muscular form. He was older, perhaps in his late forties or early fifties, and his black hair had some gray to it. But it was his eyes that caught Luccii's attention. They were the same eyes she saw every day when she looked in a mirror. They were her eyes.

"Those eyes..." Luccii said in awe as she locked eyes with the stranger. Bright blue eyes, the color of Alderaan's sky, the same exact shade and shape as her eyes.

"Yes. I noticed yours, as well." the man said with a surprisingly gentle smile. "My name is Elileo. I... do you know someone named Leisa?"

"Leisa?" Luccii's eyes went wide. "That's... my mother's name." The man's eyes turned soft as he looked at her now.

"You look just like her." his voice cracked lightly and Luccii could tell he was getting emotional. "I... do you know who I am? Has she ever mentioned me before?" Luccii just shook her head, standing closer to Torian. She was... uncomfortable. She didn't know if she wanted to know how this man knew her mother. She had the feeling she already knew. "I, er well... you see..." the man trailed off and scratched his head. He looked just as uncomfortable as she did. "I believe you are my... daughter."

* * *

What's this? Luccii has a father? Or does she? Muahaha, you'll have to wait to find out.

Sorry this chapter was a little bit... jumpy. Unorganized, maybe.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Tell me what you think. We will be going into Luccii's past here in the next few chapters.

No new mando'a for this chapter.

Thanks! -Zora


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Past

Luccii was speechless for the first time in ages. She looked over the man who looked so much like her. She looked into his eyes again, eyes that perfectly matched her own. This man... he was her father. She could tell.

"I... how... why..." was all she could say. How did he find her? How did he even know about her, when she'd never heard anything about him? How did he meet her mother? And why did he leave?

"I have my own share of questions, believe me." The man said, giving her a sympathetic look. "How about we go somewhere we can speak in private?"

"Not leaving." Torian spoke now, placing his hands firmly on his _cyar'ika's_ shoulders.

"I never asked you to. I'd very much like to speak with you, too, young man." the man conceded with a gentle smile. "Shall we?" Luccii glanced up at Torian. His jaw was set firmly in a way that told her he was none too happy about this stranger making bold claims like she was his daughter. It was cute, he was being protective.

"Fine." Torian finally agreed when he caught Luccii's pleading stare. She wanted to talk to this man... she knew, deep down, that his words were the truth. This really was her father...

Ten minutes later found the trio in a nearby cantina. They ordered a round of drinks and sat down in a private booth to talk. But no talking happened. Luccii stared at the man, Elileo he'd said was his name, and he stared back. Torian shifted uncomfortably, keeping himself between the strange man and his _c'yare_.

"I don't even know your name." Elileo finally said, breaking the ice.

"Luccii." Luccii told him. He smiled.

"A beautiful name. You look so much like Leisa, it's not even funny." he told her. "How is she, by the way?" Luccii looked away from him now.

"I was thirteen the last time I saw her." she let him know. "And she was telling me what a disgrace I am to the Echani people."

"Oh? What... what happened?" Elileo asked with a frown. He'd never known Leisa to be so cruel, especially not to family. Torian perked up at the man's question. He wanted to know, too. He still didn't know that much about Luccii's past, a fact he was rather ashamed of. She was going to be his wife, he needed to know everything about her.

"I... it's a long story. I don't feel like sharing right now." Luccii looked away. Torian's hand rubbed her thigh soothingly. This topic obviously caused her distress.

"Well, we have plenty of time to talk." Elileo smiled apologetically. "I bet you have your own questions. Ask away."

"Who, exactly, are you?" the question came without her thinking about it first.

"Ah. Well, I'm a jedi... sort of..."

"Sort of?" Luccii raised an eyebrow at this.

"I've kinda been kicked out of the order for not following the code. Part of that had to do with your mother." he smiled sadly. "Jedi aren't supposed to love, you see, and I broke the rules when I fell head over heels for Leisa. When the council found out that we were lovers, I had my title stripped of me. I've been... a wanderer ever since."

"Why didn't you stay with mother?" Luccii found herself asking now. Echani weren't against interracial marriages, especially not with humans.

"She... didn't love me." Elileo deflated now, taking a large swig of his whiskey. "I loved her with all my heart, but I was just a plaything to her. You know how royalty are." Luccii tensed when he mentioned this, and she glanced at Torian. He was giving her a serious look, and she knew they would be having a long conversation later. "Anyways, when I asked to live with her she pointed this out, quite publicly, and made me leave. I left with a broken heart. I... I didn't even know she was pregnant. I never knew you existed until today."

"That... explains so much." Luccii frowned, remembering how harsh her mother had always been towards her. As if she had something against her. As if she never wanted her. "So what do you do now?"

"I wander. Taking odd jobs here and there. I'm not a jedi anymore, but having a light saber and the skills to use it gets you a few decent jobs." her father said with a light smile now. "And you? What do you do? I see you're a mandalorian..."

"Uh, yeah... I'm a bounty hunter. I only became a mandalorian recently." Luccii scratched the back of her head, and the man smiled.

"You get that from me." his words surprised her. When she looked at him strange he just grinned. "Scratching your head like that... It's something I do all the time. Leisa hated it."

"Oh." Luccii didn't know why, but she blushed at this. "She still hates it, as far as I know... A-anyways, I sort of just go around taking bounties."

"Don't be modest, _c'yare_." Torian spoke.

"Oh?" Elileo looked interested now and Luccii found herself scratching her head again.

"I'm kind of... a big deal in the bounty hunting world." she mumbled. Why was she so flustered? Usually it was the first thing she boasted about. But this was her... father. She didn't want him thinking she had a big head. "I'm the Champion of the Great Hunt. And Mandalore's adopted daughter." She finally came out with it, watching as her father's eyes went big.

"My, that's quite impressive." he said with a smile. Then he looked at Torian. "So, am I right to assume you two are... married?"

"Close." Torian gave a wry grin.

"We're... courting." Luccii told her father with a blush.

"Ah. Congratulations." he smiled widely. "I can't believe I'm old enough to have a daughter that's of marrying age."

"I can't believe I have a former jedi for a father." Luccii smiled back. "Does this mean I have, like, force powers?"

"Not necessarily. You would have noticed by now if you were force sensitive." Elileo explained. "But you sensed me earlier, and that in itself is impressive. I could probably teach you a few things, but I don't think you took after me, in ways of force sensitivity." Then he smiled. "But that's quite alright. From what I saw in Krayt territory, you can sure hold your own. You two are quite a sight when you fight." They fell into an awkward silence after that, all three of them sitting there, looking around at random things until a comm went off.

"Ah, that's mine." Luccii mumbled, searching her pockets for the comm. Elileo just smiled and stood.

"I'll leave you to it, then. Here's my contact information. I hope we stay in touch... daughter." he gave her a warm smile as he handed her a small chip with his contact information on it. Luccii blushed and gave him a small smile.

"We will. I promise. I still have questions." she swore, happy to see him smile back. He nodded to Torian, and then left the cantina calmly. She watched him go, forgetting about her comm until Torian grabbed it from her pocket and answered it for her.

* * *

" _C'yare_..." Luccii frowned at the tone in his voice. He was serious. They were about to have a very long talk, she could tell. She slowly turned to face him, not expecting the kiss he gave her. Nor did she expect him to push her against the wall as he kissed her. She was thankful they'd both changed out of their armor, or his rough movements would have hurt. She let out a soft moan as he trailed kisses down her neck, then back up it to her ear. "Now that I have your attention..." he suddenly pulled back, grinning at her pout. "Want more?" She nodded eagerly. "Then talk."

"About?"

"You know what." He dragged her over to the bed and made her sit down. She just pouted. "I know you don't want to talk about it, _c'yare_ , but if I'm going to be your husband I need to know everything about you." Luccii looked up into his eyes and sighed softly. He was upset that she hadn't already told him about her past, she knew, but it's not like it was something she could just bring up in random conversation.

"Alright." she sighed. "You already figured out I didn't know my father was even still alive." Torian nodded. "Mother refused to talk about him whenever I asked. I had no idea who he was or where he was or if he was even alive. The only reason I figured he wasn't Echani was because of my eyes."

"And what he said, your mother being royalty..."

"It's not the way you think." Luccii looked away. "My mother is a princess... but Echani do royalty different than most cultures. The strongest are promoted through the ranks, and the strongest of the strong are considered royalty and given the wealth and power that comes with it. My mother's father was the one who was actually considered 'royalty' but it was passed down to her when she became strong enough to defeat him in a spar. I... am not royalty. Not in Echani law, anyways."

"What do you mean?" Torian asked, sitting down beside her.

"Echani are masters at hand to hand combat, and sometimes use a vibrosword. You... know my skill with both." She frowned, looking away in shame. Torian nodded at this. Luccii was a distance fighter, and while she could hold her ground in hand to hand combat, and did love fighting that way, she got overwhelmed easily. Her skills with a blaster, however, were top notch; her aim... fatally precise. "I'm perhaps only average strength, as far as Echani see me. It's part of the reason I was exiled."

"Go on."

"I'm the daughter of one of the strongest fighters on the planet. I'm supposed to be just as strong, or stronger. Even from a young age a lot was expected of me." Luccii sighed heavily. "When I was thirteen... I was assigned to guard a general during a drill where other children my age tried to assassinate him. It was a test, and my last chance to prove myself worthy of my Echani blood. A rite of passage, so to speak. I guess you can figure out how well that went." Torian squeezed her thigh soothingly, seeing that the memories were rather painful to her.

"My mother was publicly humiliated by my failure, and it was the last straw for her. She... disowned me, and ordered that I be exiled from Eshan because of my incompetence as an Echani. I was given enough credits to get to Coruscant, and a local gang took me in. Taught me how to use blasters. Braeden found me on a trip there. I... tried to kill him for his credits. He was impressed with my aim and tenacity... and offered me a chance to rise to power and make a name for myself, to prove my mother wrong, to prove that I wasn't worthless. I took it... and entered the Great Hunt. And now I'm here."

" _C'yare_... why have you never told me this?" Torian frowned as he pulled her onto his lap with a gentle kiss.

"I... it's just a sensitive subject for me..." Luccii buried her face in his chest. "And I didn't want you to think less of me for such a big failure..."

" _Cyar'ika_..." Torian kissed her again, cupping her face in his hands. "Ever heard of _cin vhetin?_ "

"What's... that?" Luccii questioned, still learning mando'a slowly but surely.

"Clean slate. When you join the mandalorians, your past becomes irrelevant. Only what you do from that point on matters." He told her with a smile. She smiled back. Torian was a man of few words, but he always knew what to say. She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"You're right. And I should have told you a long time ago. Forgive me?" She was answered with another kiss as Torian pulled her ever closer to her.

"Forgiven." he smirked, then rolled his hips up against her, making her blush. "Now, _c'yare_ , you promised me a reward..."

* * *

Another chapter wee! Okay hopefully that's enough jumping around like that lol. Sorry about that folks. It should start to be more detailed again in the next chapter.

Tell me what you think!

Mando'a:

Cin Vhetin: Clean slate. Literally a white field. Used mostly in terms of joining the mandalorians, where your past becomes irrelevant and you will only be judged on your actions from that point on.

Note: There's not a lot of info on Echani... so the whole royalty think is sort of my own depiction of how a warrior race could even have royalty. Don't hold me to it, and don't expect me to change it.

Thanks for reading!

-Zora


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Talks**

Torian eyed Elileo as they walked through the marketplace. Both men were following a cheery Luccii, who was practically clinging to poor little Mako, and the two girls were talking each others ears off. The slicer had found Alderaan too boring and had come to Nar Shadaa on a whim, unaware of Torian and Luccii's vacation there. Once she arrived in the spaceport, however, it hadn't taken long for the little slicer to find out that they were there, and expertly track them down.

That explained Mako's presence... but Torian was still wondering why Elileo was here now. Luccii had mentioned him that morning, but hadn't said anything about him tagging along with them today. He eyed the older man again when he wasn't paying attention. Torian still didn't trust him. He was a former jedi, and jedi hated mandalorians. Torian was wondering if Elileo was making an exception in this book just because of his daughter... or if he really was different from the other jedi. Either way, they barely knew this guy... and Torian was not going to let his guard down around him like Luccii so easily did. Not until he proved that he could be trusted.

"I want to thank you." the former jedi suddenly spoke, earning Torian's attention. He turned slightly to let him know he was listening. "For protecting my daughter so diligently. I can see you don't trust me, and I know if I make a wrong move you're going to protect her with your life. You'd kill me, I know, just to keep her safe." Elileo smiled kindly at Torian. "I couldn't have asked for a better man to be with my daughter... though I didn't even know I had one until yesterday." he laughed lightly at this and then sighed. "I can understand why you don't trust me. In your shoes, I wouldn't trust me either. But I assure you, my intentions are pure. I simply want to get to know my daughter. I may have been raised a jedi, and for a time I was truly devoted to them, but I do not follow their beliefs anymore. I haven't in a long, long time."

" _Dar'jetii_." Torian murmured. "No longer jedi. Dark jedi." Elileo chuckled at this.

"Some may call me that, but I don't believe I have fallen from the light." he shook his head and then rubbed his chin, as if in thought. "I still believe that what the sith are doing is wrong... but the jedi are no better with their overly righteous ways. This whole concept of light and dark is wrong to me, anyways. Good people do bad things for good reasons, and bad people can do good things for the wrong reasons, such as money or personal gain. But the Jedi do not see that. They only see light and dark; there is no in between to them. I am... perhaps counted as in between."

"Gray?" Torian questioned thoughtfully. It made sense. The jedi and the sith were too worried about black and white, when, in reality there was a lot more shades of gray than there were black and white.

"That sounds about right." Elileo hummed to himself. "In any case, all of what I am, really, is a man trying to make a living and enjoy life while I have it. My training and upbringing matters not, only what I do from now until my death."

" _Cin Vhetin_." Torian said with a smirk, and Elileo smiled.

"Yes, I heard that phrase from an old mandalorian friend of mine. He's the one who told me about it, and I do believe it's an accurate depiction of my life." Elileo chuckled, scratching the back of his head in a way that reminded Torian so much of Luccii. "He actually offered me a chance to join the mandalorians, you know, and become part of his clan."

"Why didn't you?" Torian asked. There were many reasons people refused their way of life, he knew, but he was still curious.

"Ah, I'm just not made out for your kind of lifestyle. Always on the move, always seeking adventure, always fighting." Elileo chuckled lightly as they walked. "I'm fine with the life I have now. I may be a wanderer, but most of what I do in my line of work is negotiations; I rarely have to fight. It's an honest living, and one that I'm proud of."

"Hey you two slow pokes!" Luccii called back to them. Torian glanced up to see that his _c'yare_ was much further away from them than she had been, but still close enough that Torian could reach her in an emergency. "Hurry up! I'm so hungry I could eat a bantha over here!"

"Yea! I haven't eaten since Alderaan!" Mako agreed with a giggle. Torian smirked at the two, they acted so much like sisters it wasn't even funny. They were sisters in their own eyes, and in the eyes of the crew. It was nice to see that Luccii had someone other than him to lean on for support.

"Let's not keep them waiting." Torian nodded his head towards the girls. Elileo chuckled and nodded, following Torian as they caught up to the girls. They were hungry, too, and the restaurant was right around the corner.

* * *

"So then I said 'oh really? Show me.'" Luccii grinned as she told them of her fight against Vexx. "And Mr. Quickshot Vexx has the slowest quickshot I've ever seen, I tell you. I had my blaster up and shot him before the kid could even blink." She laughed with Mako at this. Torian smiled lightly at the scene. That encounter had happened before they'd ever met, but he'd heard of it several times. Elileo was paying close attention, smiling and laughing at his daughter's stories.

"Oh, and let's not forget that time with his siblings." Mako added with a laugh. "Didn't they pretty much boast the same thing?"

"Yea. Tarro made them think I'd shot him in the back and had no chance against them." Luccii grinned. "They cornered me and Mako when I landed on Balmorra to go after my first Hunt target."

"Poor kids didn't know who they were messing with." Mako laughed.

"I tried to tell them they'd been set up, but did they listen? No." Luccii added. "They made the stupid mistake of attacking me, and they were dead before they even got close enough to touch me." Then she sighed. "Poor kids, I really tried to make them listen."

"Yea, it's a shame, but at least the general IQ of the population shot up ten percent." Mako added, trying to make Luccii feel better about the kids. They weren't children, but they were barely old enough to be considered adults. Sometimes Luccii couldn't help but think about how much life was left in them. But she shook that aside quickly. In her profession she couldn't afford to care about every person she killed. That was one way to get herself killed...

"Yea, I guess it did." Luccii laughed now, shaking off the tiny bit of remorse that came over her. She smiled and took another bite of her breakfast as Mako turned to Elileo now. In their walk to the restaurant that morning, Luccii had told the girl all about her encounter with her mysterious father. Mako was curious, to say the least.

"So you didn't even know Lu existed until yesterday?" she asked curiously.

"Indeed." Elileo nodded. "Her mother never once contacted me, after all these years, not even to let me know that I had a child."

"Wow. No offense to both of you, but Lu's mother sounds like a horrible person." Mako shook her head.

"She was." Luccii nodded in agreement. "She was never a mother to me. For as long as I can remember, her only interactions with me were to give me orders and to yell at me about how worthless I was. I don't think she even nursed me herself when I was an infant." She scowled, looking down at her food. "Can we change the topic? I don't wanna talk about her anymore."

"Of course, Lu. Sorry." Mako apologized when she saw how much this topic was upsetting her. Torian rubbed her thigh soothingly under the table, earning a small smile from his _c'yare_. Mako turned to Elileo now. "So what are you going to do now that you know about Lu?"

"Ah, well," he scratched his head with a small smile. "I suppose I will just resume my normal life, and contact my daughter every now and then to make sure she's okay."

"Why not join our crew? I'm sure we can find use from you somehow." Mako smiled. "I mean, I'm not a great fighter, but I'm good at slicing and healing. Gault's our go-to sniper; although Torian's pretty handy with that, too; but he also sets up bounty contracts for us and gets a little side profit for us out of his 'business'." Mako used air quotes around the word 'business,' making Luccii laugh. "Blizz is our adorable mascot, and our gadgets and explosives expert, and Skadge is our muscle and internal connection to a lot of gangs. And then we got Lu and Torian, who are pretty much our front line fighters and our connections to mandalorian allies. We could probably use someone with Jedi training in there somewhere. What do you think, Lu?"

"Well, I mean, if you want to I'm sure we can use you." Luccii gave her father a small smile. Mako sure liked to sell it, but she was worried her description of their crew would only scare her father off.

"I... thank you for the offer." Elileo smiled lightly at the girls. "But for now I have to decline. It's not that I don't want to. I just have too many obligations at this point."

"No worries." Mako smiled cheerfully, handing Elileo a small disk. "That's the frequency to our ship's holo comm. For if you want to stay in touch, or if you decide you want to join us."

"Ah, I thank you." Elileo smiled, taking the disc and placing it in his robes for safekeeping. "Now then, I'm afraid I can't stay to chat any longer. I'm due to meet a client in a short while and I must be going." He stood from the table and turned his attention to his daughter, giving her a soft smile. "I am so very glad I found you, my daughter. I'm sorry we didn't have much time to talk. Please, keep in touch. It'll put my mind at ease."

"I will." Luccii gave him a smile back. "I'm glad to have met you. Take care... father."

* * *

"So that was interesting." Mako hummed as she walked alongside Torian and Luccii. "Who would have guessed you'd randomly meet the father you never knew you had on Nar Shadaa?"

"Who would have guessed he'd be a jedi?" Luccii added with a small laugh. "I mean, I knew there was no way he was Echani, because of my eyes, but I never once imagined he would be a jedi."

"Yea." Mako laughed, and then sighed. "So, aside from all that, how's your vacation going?"

"I'd rather be hunting." Luccii gave her sister a wry smile. Torian smiled at her words. He would, too. Although... the time they spent locked up in their hotel room was pretty nice.

"You mandos." Mako shook her head with a laugh. "Well, at least we're on a planet that had no shortage of bounties."

"We've already taken one." Torian told her. "Wouldn't mind doin more though."

"Well, want me to start searching for a good one?" Mako questioned, tapping lightly at her holonet implant. "It's been a while since I've gotten to have fun with you guys." The tone in her voice made Luccii smile and pull the slicer into a side hug.

"I'm sorry, Mako, I guess I've been hogging all the fun to myself." She smiled wryly at her sister, feeling a tiny pang of guilt. She'd not only been hogging all the fun, but she'd been hogging Torian too. The rest of the crew rarely got to go on bounties with her anymore, and that wasn't fair to them. "What do you say, Torian? Wanna go after a bigger target this time?"

"Always up for a hunt." Torian grinned, turning to Mako. "Find us a challenge, Mako." Mako grinned widely and clapped her hands in joy.

"Already on it."

* * *

Another chapter for my lovely readers! Tell me what you think.

Yea, I know it's filler! So what, sue me.

No, really don't sue me I'm a broke college student with barely enough money to get a drink on Fridays. Don't take my drinking money pleaseeee.

Mando'a from this chapter:

Dar'jetii: dark jedi. usually used in reference to sith. literally means no longer jedi

Anyways, tell me what you guys think! And thanks for reading, my lovelies!

-Zora


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